Impressions and Reviews

FiR Audio are celebrating their 5-year anniversary. The adventurous brothers behind this venture wanted to celebrate in style by releasing Radon6, a limited edition Frontier Series iem. For those of you who don’t know the Frontier Series, the line-up was released late 2020 and consisted of three models: NE4, KR5 and XE6. All three models have the “Kinetic Bass” technology, which is FiR’s take...

I have to confess, I feel bad. I’ve had the LimeEars Anima since last summer and haven’t shared my impressions yet. It’s not because I am lazy. It’s also not because I don’t like Anima. I really do. It’s probably because Anima is quite complex. Anima is the current flagship from LimeEars. The Polish boutique brand has been steadily growing over the years. Anima...

 A new ThieAudio release is big news these days. The brand that redefined price to performance ratio are not done disrupting the market. They are also not afraid of challenging themselves.   Oracle2 was a demonstration of that. It had the best dynamic driver bass by ThieAudio to date. It also debuted a new EST treble sound. When I heard it, I fully expected both technologies to feature on...

Many audio brands create a house sound and stick to it. ThieAudio isn’t one of them. They have been constantly reinventing themselves and taking risks when overhauling their most popular products. Monarch MKII was a clear departure from the original Monarch, the iem that put ThieAudio firmly on the map. History repeats itself with Oracle MKII. It comes with a totally revised signature. Will...

My introduction to Subtonic couldn’t have been more natural. I started Elise Audio with a desire to create more than a store. The audiophile community has been important to me and I wanted to create a platform that caters to it. Singapore, a city I love, was a big inspiration. The city-state has one of the most passionate audiophile crowds. There is also an ever-growing number of...

Whenever I get iems that share a special feature, I imagine a fun contest. So when I found myself with the FiR Audio XE6, Hidition Violet and Empire Ears Legend Evo, I immediately thought: bass cannon showdown! But I needed a fourth iem. I originally thought of the Legend X SE that is now offered in the “pre-owned” section. But it felt redundant with...

 Westone is a very special brand for me. The UM20s were my first high-end iem. At the time, I fell in love with their bass. The details were also ahead of anything I had heard before. Unfortunately, my UM20s ended up in my washing machine and lost all bass. As a budding audiophile, I upgraded to the W30 that I also enjoyed. My second...

Quick impressions of the new Cayin N8ii DAP.

Symphonium Audio established themselves in style last year with Helios. One of the most acclaimed kilobuck iems along with the ThieAudio Monarch MKII. Helios was an iem I knew I needed to have on Elise Audio after the first audition. Today we look at Symphonium’s follow-up to Helios: Triton. Helios has a 4BA configuration with a 4-way crossover, Triton goes for 1DD + 2BA with a 3-way...

My impressive audition of the KR5 led to a wonderful chain of events. The result was the start of a partnership with FiR Audio that I am now proud to offer on Elise Audio. As a result, I am not an outsider anymore. The below needs to be read in context. I received the entire Frontier Series earlier this week. And because I love torturing...